My Powerwalls installation completed yesterday and the grid charge was available in the app. I'm in Centerpoint territory and using Direct Energy Free Nights plan. The Powerwall technician also told me there is no grid charge restriction in Texas as far as his understanding.
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Tesla Solar in Houston & Surrounding Area’s
- Thread starter Jones1
- Start date
I consider myself an automation tinker and wired the heck out of my home. (I don't like to touch light switches and want scenes and voice control to do what I need without me asking.. lol) There was a SmartThings plug in for the Powerwall that is written by someone linked below. I had that running and it provided basic alertings, but has not been maintained to support any of the recent features such as grid charging. I had basic announcements in the home "Grid down. Powerwall is now online" and other very basic things. Many of which has been enabled natively now from Tesla and my tokens expired and I was not able to extend. The author has since switched to Hubitat. I have a considerable investment in SmartThings in time and money, but have been considering switching to HA. One of those many personal projects that never took off, but I believe the capabilities lie in either platforms. Will do more research when I have more time..which may be never. Leaving it here for others that may want to venture.
darwinsden.com
Re: Texas and grid restrictions. I too assume this based on the fact that it's available to us in the app. However I wouldn't put it on Telsa to be held responsible for any tax implications from the grid charging. i.e We took the tax break on solar which is for sun-charging. Not grid charging. Someone mentioned this in another thread, but no further details. I'm personally careful here. yes I enable when needed manually and disable, but use it sparingly because I don't fully understand the implications.
Tesla Powerwall Manager app for SmartThings and Hubitat Hubs - DarwinsDen.com
Introducing the Powerwall Manager SmartApp for SmartThings and Hubitat Hubs Update 1-Jan-2023: This app is still fully operational on the Hubitat Hub platform, however due to recent changes on the SmartThings platform to eliminate the hosted Groovy application capability, this app is no longer...
darwinsden.com
Re: Texas and grid restrictions. I too assume this based on the fact that it's available to us in the app. However I wouldn't put it on Telsa to be held responsible for any tax implications from the grid charging. i.e We took the tax break on solar which is for sun-charging. Not grid charging. Someone mentioned this in another thread, but no further details. I'm personally careful here. yes I enable when needed manually and disable, but use it sparingly because I don't fully understand the implications.
DrewHou
Tesla S|3|Solar+PW
Yeah I don’t know if I can call myself a tinkerer or a full blown smart home maniac haha. I have all light switches smart including ceiling fans, exhaust fans, and dimmers. Every shade on my windows are smart including my shutters, kitchen faucet, all kitchen appliances, motion sensors in every room, hidden wired door and window sensors, cameras, garage door, basically you name it from vacuums to air fryer and it’s connected to HomeKit and Google Assistant. Use HomeKit on my phone and TV and Google on my smart displays that I have mounted IN not on the walls. Now with Tesla Solar and Span I have the rest of the data I was missing on my home.I consider myself an automation tinker and wired the heck out of my home. (I don't like to touch light switches and want scenes and voice control to do what I need without me asking.. lol) There was a SmartThings plug in for the Powerwall that is written by someone linked below. I had that running and it provided basic alertings, but has not been maintained to support any of the recent features such as grid charging. I had basic announcements in the home "Grid down. Powerwall is now online" and other very basic things. Many of which has been enabled natively now from Tesla and my tokens expired and I was not able to extend. The author has since switched to Hubitat. I have a considerable investment in SmartThings in time and money, but have been considering switching to HA. One of those many personal projects that never took off, but I believe the capabilities lie in either platforms. Will do more research when I have more time..which may be never. Leaving it here for others that may want to venture.
Tesla Powerwall Manager app for SmartThings and Hubitat Hubs - DarwinsDen.com
Introducing the Powerwall Manager SmartApp for SmartThings and Hubitat Hubs Update 1-Jan-2023: This app is still fully operational on the Hubitat Hub platform, however due to recent changes on the SmartThings platform to eliminate the hosted Groovy application capability, this app is no longer...
Re: Texas and grid restrictions. I too assume this based on the fact that it's available to us in the app. However I wouldn't put it on Telsa to be held responsible for any tax implications from the grid charging. i.e We took the tax break on solar which is for sun-charging. Not grid charging. Someone mentioned this in another thread, but no further details. I'm personally careful here. yes I enable when needed manually and disable, but use it sparingly because I don't fully understand the implications.
I’m hoping that at some point the new Matter standard will help bridge solar and breakers into the mix and enable some new features. I live and breathe smart home tech and it’s an expensive habit but I enjoy it so much. I dropped SmartThings (outside of my Samsung appliances) a while back just because I didn’t like the app. Personal preference and maybe if I had a Samsung phone I would like it more but I carry an iPhone and a Pixel and this setup works great for me. I didn’t know Tesla could connect to SmartThings even with a 3p connection so I may have to look back into since my Samsung fridge display has SmartThings controls on it.
DrewHou
Tesla S|3|Solar+PW
Yeah so I know a lot of people use a raspberry pi and home assistant but I wanted something a bit more plug and play. So I bought the Hoobs hub and have it feed my Vivint system, Tesla, MyQ garage door, and a few other HomeKit incompatible devices into HomeKit. Highly recommend the Hoobs there’s so much you can do without having to deal with coding and performance has been rock solid.Details on the third party Hub? Please
Thanks. I use to tinker more. When I was working in a different field. The last 5 years. I’ve been pretty busy. I have most of my home automated. Thanks to Apple, Alexa and Google. I have heard or saw different products. Like the Hoobs. But never tried it. I will check that one out. It would be great to connect my non apple HomeKit products to HomeKit.
haha.. I love it. I downplayed it a bit when I said tinker earlier, but our house is similar. Google Assist in every room with scenarios. My goodnight scenario locks all external doors, shuts all garages and does all the typical light controls and temperature for a sleeping house. My house's mornings routine especially in my home office has all the automation for me to just sit into my seat and things just "work". Because of this mindset, the Tesla PWs should play into these routines and grid charge to 100% if it sees cloudy weather tomorrow without depending on that stupid non-working StormWatch. However all these would hardly be plug and play because it's not for the general masses.
We're a big google house over Alexa, but I never did the HomeKit although we're all iPhone users. Frankly I don't want to pick up a phone to turn things on/off. Should all be hands free. I will however venture into the HomeAssist as the next project since that's where the Tesla automation seems to live. HA can spin up a container or off a simple Pi image. Plenty of Pi(s) laying around, just no time. Maybe the Xmas break will enable some tinkering time. We have to stay connected and trade automation nerd crap. lol
DrewHou
Tesla S|3|Solar+PW
Sounds very similar to my setup! I really love HomeKit because I have Apple TVs and it allows my Nest doorbell and cameras to automatically pop up on the TV if someone walks near my house or rings the bell. Plus I like being able to do things without voice and having quick actions available without opening an app right on my phone.
Agreed Tesla should be a lot smarter than it is. I need to find time to really play around and see what I can make work but I have about 50 other things I need to get around to first. I work for Google (so long hours) but not in smart home stuff (sadly) I’m in Enterprise and Education but always watching openings on the Nest team. Smart home tech is getting better but it has a longgggg way to go especially for mainstream end users.
DrewHou
Tesla S|3|Solar+PW
Well I have been really loving FSD beta for my safety score… not so much when it decides to just make a random turn into a curb or a parked car haha. Says it’s going straight and then sudden turn into things… keeps me on my toes though I guess hahaI love EAP or AP. It’s worth every penny. Especially if you have to drive out or in Hoston traffic.
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I was getting decent response until going PTO... I guess I'll have to be a little more forceful
When trying to get the most out of your free nights or charging at work for free. Are some of you charging to 100%? Or 90%? I’ve only charged to 100% a few times. While charging at work. I mainly charge to 90. I feared I would degrade my battery faster.
Just asking.
@100% I would be at or around 91% when I get home. So it’s not really sitting at 100% for long.
Just asking.
@100% I would be at or around 91% when I get home. So it’s not really sitting at 100% for long.
If you have free nights every night, or free charging at work every day, I wouldn't see the need. I charge to 60% every night during the free period. My weekday commute uses 20% daily so that's all I need to put back in. I don't really need to store vehicle energy across multiple days.
I’m getting about 60kwh on a good sunny day during winter I have noticed. On a cloudy day during winter. I’m getting about 30kwh.
Raining days I’m getting about 5-10kwh.
12kwh
1PW
Facing south and East.
For those using the TMC App.
Raining days I’m getting about 5-10kwh.
12kwh
1PW
Facing south and East.
For those using the TMC App.
That's good production. I only get around 45kWh on a sunny day in winter with a 16kW array. My panels are south and west but there's a lot of shading in winter for me.
You do much better than me. I get like 35kwh on sunny day now with 30kw array. Lots of panels facing north so not unexpected. I get 185kwh in the summer,
Wow 185kwh during the summer. Wow.You do much better than me. I get like 35kwh on sunny day now with 30kw array. Lots of panels facing north so not unexpected. I get 185kwh in the summer,
That's awesome summer production! I get 90kWh or so, on the best summer days. I have been obsessing over areas on my roof to squeeze in new panels to get that up. My summer household consumption is an eye watering 250kWh/d, so I have a ways to go to cover that. Thank goodness for free nights!You do much better than me. I get like 35kwh on sunny day now with 30kw array. Lots of panels facing north so not unexpected. I get 185kwh in the summer,
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